Suicide Squad Creator on Critics: "If Every Superhero Film Is Not 'The Dark Knight,' They'll bytch"
AUGUST 08, 2016 9:18am PT by George Johnston
Suicide Squad Creator on Critics: "If Every Superhero Film Is Not 'The Dark Knight,' They'll bytch"
Warner Bros.
piece for Comicmix to share what he thought about the adaptation of his seminal work.
"I really liked the film. Not perfect by a long shot, but a really good time in the movie theater. And for me a lot of it was just amazing," he wrote. "The look, the detail, the feel of the film is not something I’ve seen in superhero movies before.”
The writer also praised Viola Davis (Amanda Waller), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn) and Will Smith, saying the actor makes Deadshot his own — with Ostrander dismissing those who criticized Smith's casting (in Ostander's version, Deadshot was white.)
But Ostander took issue with
the critcal backlash the film has received, writing that it seems that some critics are just tired of superhero or "tentpole films" and would like to see the Hollywood trend come to an end.
"Look, I get it – they have to see all the films out there and they must be tired of all the blockbusters. If every superhero film is not
The Dark Knight, they’ll bytch," he wrote. "I think that’s going on here to a certain degree. Just as I came prepared to love the movie, they came prepared to hate it."
Even so, Ostrander admitted the film was far from perfect.
“The antagonist(s) are not well defined and, to my mind, you need a good antagonist to help define the protagonist(s)," he wrote. "It’s the antagonist who usually sets the plot in motion and it is defined by what they want. The story is a little more generic 'we have to save the world' than I usually did; I always liked having one foot squarely in reality.”
Suicide Squad opened to $135 million over the weekend, but dropped sharply on Saturday,
possible due to poor word of mouth.
'Suicide Squad' Cast Responds to Negative Reviews: "Critics Have Been Absolutely Horrific"
'Suicide Squad' Cast Responds to Negative Reviews: "Critics Have Been Absolutely Horrific"
'Suicide Squad' Clay Enos/Warner Bros.
Talking to Digital Spy, Jay Hernandez, who plays El Diablo in the pic, admitted that he has been "bothered" by the negative reviews that have piled onto the movie so far. "I think it sucks," he said. "Obviously, we worked hard and tried to give the fans what they wanted."
Joel Kinnaman, who portrays Rick Flag, was slightly more diplomatic when talking to the same outlet, saying, "Of course you want critical acclaim, of course, but what matters is what the fans think. We're really proud of this film, we loved making it, everybody on the film has become really close friends and this is like a work of love and I hope the fans like it."
That line of diplomacy was echoed by Will Smith, who
told Reuters that he thought that "people had expectations that may have been different, but I'm excited for the fans to get to vote."
Meanwhile, Cara Delevingne seemed more hurt by the critical response to date. "The critics have been absolutely horrific, they're really, really horrible," she complained to Reuters. "You know, I just don't think they like superhero movies." (Shhh ... nobody tell her about the critically acclaimed
The Dark Knight.)
The
overwhelmingly negative reviews for
Suicide Squad have already provoked strong responses from
director David Ayer and DC Entertainment fans, with a section of the latter
launching a petition to close down review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes in an attempt to prevent people from seeing how poorly the movie has been faring with critics.
Should the fans appreciate the movie in the way the cast hopes,
Suicide Squad could hit the
currently projected $130 million-$140 million take for its opening weekend.
